“[Because Ms. Simon's claims are] essentially religious questions, this Court shall instead rely on the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.”For background, read about the 2012 Supreme Court precedent giving churches First Amendment rights in employment decisions.
-- Judge Kenneth R. Garrett III, Jackson County Circuit Court
However, last year Massachusetts Court Rules Catholic School Must Hire Homosexuals
Click headlines below to read previous articles:
Pennsylvania Catholic School's Secret Lesbian Fired
Fired Pregnant Lesbian Sues Montana Catholic School
Lesbians Sue Christian School for Biblical Beliefs
Also read how Catholic schools are being attacked across America by their own parishioners for firing homosexuals.
-- From "Church Settles With Gay Married Worker Who Was Fired" by Dan Margolies, KCUR-FM89.3 (NPR in Kansas City, MO) 2/18/16
Terms of the settlement with Colleen Simon, a former church food pantry worker, were not disclosed. But the settlement came two days after a Jackson County judge threw out her fraud claim against the church but declined to throw out two other claims alleging violations of Missouri’s service letter statute and Missouri’s minimum wage law.
Jack Smith, a spokesman for the diocese, said the church “just decided to settle” on those other counts.
E.E. Keenan and Sonal Bhatia, the husband-and-wife team who represented Simon, said the parties had resolved the case “to their mutual satisfaction.”
[Judge] Garrett said that inquiring into that claim “would impermissibly entangle the Court in matters and decisions purely canonical, since the Court must necessarily examine the religious views and practices of the Diocese in an attempt to perceive the reasonableness of Plaintiff’s reliance on the Diocese’s representations.”
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From "Court affirms diocese’s freedom to operate according to Catholic teaching" by Alliance Defending Freedom staff 2/18/16
The court ruled that the First Amendment’s guarantee of the free exercise of religion means the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City–St. Joseph is free to make its employment decisions without court interference. Alliance Defending Freedom [ADF] attorneys representing the diocese filed a motion for summary judgment last year asking for this result.
“A church isn’t obligated to employ those who act contrary to the church’s teachings. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed this as recently as four years ago,” said ADF Senior Counsel Erik Stanley. “The district court was on very firm constitutional ground to reject this attempt to drag the government into a church’s theological decisions – the very line the First Amendment says the government cannot cross.”
“If churches are forced to employ people who do not follow the religious teachings of those churches, the church will no longer be able to minister consistently or freely in accordance with its faith,” added ADF Legal Counsel Jeremiah Galus.
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From "Church pantry worker fired for being a lesbian sues Catholic diocese" by Mark Morris, The Kansas City Star 7/17/14
Colleen Simon alleges in her lawsuit that she had told two priests at St. Francis Xavier Church that she was married to another woman and they had informed her that her sexual orientation would not be a problem.
However, an April [2014] article in The Kansas City Star’s 816 news magazine mentioned her marriage to the Rev. Donna Simon of St. Mark Hope and Peace Lutheran Church. Within a month, Colleen Simon had been fired at [Bishop Robert J.] Finn’s direction, she alleges.
She said the church fraudulently encouraged her to take the food pantry position at St. Francis Xavier in July 2013, knowing the diocese had no intention of keeping its commitments to her.
Colleen Simon alleges in her lawsuit that she mentioned her sexual orientation to the priest at St. Francis Xavier during a job interview in May 2013. The priest purportedly “was nonplussed, and expressed no objection to Ms. Simon’s sexual orientation or her relationship with Donna,” the suit alleges.
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From "Just Keep It Out of the Newspapers ..." by Kevin Koeninger, Courthouse News Service 7/22/14
The plaintiff and Donna Simon were married in Iowa, as same-sex marriages are illegal in Missouri.
During a face-to-face interview, Simon says, she told the first pastor that she and her wife were "well known in the community, and were known to be an open, out, married couple in the community."
In January 2014, after the pastor who had interviewed her moved away, Simon says she revealed her sexual orientation to the new pastor of St. Francis Xavier, who "looked surprised. He said 'Oh, okay. It's okay.'"
Simon says the pastor of St. Francis Xavier [later] emailed her, expressing concern about the information in the [Kansas City Star] article, and also called the reporter and "asked [her] if she was a Catholic, and when the reporter answered that she was not, the new pastor stated to her that she didn't know what she had done."
"The new pastor stated that now that Ms. Simon's marital status was public, he had no choice but to ask her to submit a letter of resignation," the complaint states.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Lesbian Files Suit Against Missouri Catholic Diocese, Says She Was Fired for Marrying a Woman" by Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter 7/22/14
In late June [2014], the diocesan Human Resources Director Bob Roper informed Simon of her dismissal from her position at St. Francis Xavier.
Provided to CP by Diocese Director of Communications Jack Smith, the letter explained that she was being terminated for being involved in a gay marriage.
"The reason … was based upon an irreconcilable conflict between the laws, discipline, and teaching of the Catholic Church and your relationship — formalized by an act of marriage in Iowa — to a person of the same-sex," wrote Roper to Simon.
A representative of Simon provided The Christian Post with a copy of the lawsuit, filed in Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri, at the Independence Courthouse.
. . . [Simon's demands] according to the suit, include "all economic loss, including unpaid wages and fringe benefit; nominal and/or statutory damages for violation of the Missouri Service Letter Law; the costs of this action; and any other and further legal and/or equitable relief that this court deems just and proper."
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
And read Gay Agenda will be Complete when Christians are Muzzled, Say Homosexualists and read Senator Ted Cruz Says the Gay Agenda Ends Christian Liberty